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Monday, May 24, 2010

My zombie story, A New Day, has been accepted by House of Horror. I was pretty excited about this acceptance. The story is almost a year old and has only been submited to two anthologies, one of which went out of business after holding the story for 200 days. The story has gotten two major edits and is nothing like the original.

This has reaffirmed my belief that every story can find a home. The summer reading program has started and the kick off party was a huge failure. Last year was the worst they ever had with only seventy kids showing up. This year we had twenty. It was a little depressing. I did everything to advertise that former children's librarians had. Including, articles in the newspaper, an apperance on the radio, vists to schools, a post on the local web news site, flyers and posters.

I think there was just too much going on on the day we picked to have the party. My boss seems to think I did not advertise it well enough, but I don't know what else I could have done.

So we are trying to "relaunch" the program with a whole new slew of advertising for the June 1st children's concert. I am also in the midst of plaining a "Prepare for the Eclipse" party for the teens. I am going to try to get licenseing to show Twilight, and New Moon a few days before Eclipse comes to the local theater.

So I think I am going to be really busy at work again. I did get another chapter in Godswar written, and I am almost done with my first short story in my novel about a place rather than characters. My working title for it is the Infinity Well. But I should proably google it to make sure it hasn't been used. It sounds like something from a comic book.

Friday, May 21, 2010

I had the day off of work today, because I have to work tomorrow, on Saturday. Tomorrow is the Summer Reading Program Kick-off party. This my first year as children's librarian so I am not really sure how it will go. Stuff I do know: there will be around a hundred children and thier parents, we have free food, I had to come up with some games, I am scheduled for a 9 hour day with no breaks, I am responsible for the party so if anything goes wrong it will be my fault.

So while I enjoyed having a Friday off I spent wondering what tomorrow would bring. I did get some stuff done. I got the Kinberra Down cover finished, I worked on two covers for other presses, and I have been prepareing something special. I don't want to ruin the news or announce anything before it is final but there could be some big news from Pill Hill Press in the near future.

I haven't got much writing done, but I have been thinking about the newest project I am working on. It is the story of a place rather than people, it is told through a collection of shorts. It starts with nomadic cavemen and I am planning on following the place through time all the way to space travlers. As I skip through time I will write three or four chapters about each character and then move on.

For example in chapter one there a young "caveman" who is the one of the last members of his tribe, in chapter two he is much older and the king of his people. Chapter three will focus mostly on his teenage son. Then I will skip a few hundred years down the road.

I am doing this to practise starting and ending a story. I only have a few chapters to get people to care about the characters and setting, before I drasticly change it. When I mention in chapter five or six how the caveman from chapter one died I want people to care about it. It should be interesting, and I am hoping good.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Just a quick note before I go to bed. My story, Higher Learning has just been published in the Absent Willow Review. You can check it out here if you are interested.

The story is about a group of humans in the near future who are trying to fight off the aliens that have conquered earth. So as far as genre goes I would have to put this one firmly in the Sci-fi category.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

So I am done with most of the prep work for the Summer Reading Program. The program starts next week, so while I will be super busy when I am at work my nights and weekends will be my own again.

The first thing I did with my free time was write a story for the Sword and Sorceress anthology. I wrote a 5000 word story that is actually a shore prequel to one of my unpublished novels. I did not expect to get published, it is a pro paying antho, but I heard that they give personal rejections and I hoped to get some tips to make the story better.

My personal rejection said that there was nothing wrong with the story it just did not have the feeling she was looking for, and that I should send it to other markets.

I found this somewhat heartening. At least she didn't hate it, and didn't have any major problems with the story. I have already subbed it to another market, and have my fingers crossed. I am going to start at the top, as far as pay scale goes, and work my way down.

I am also going to have a short 500 word zombie story in Daily Bites of Flesh. The story entitled Divorce of the Dead is almost all action.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Today I am filled with an almost overwhelming sense of dread. The cause of this feeling, is my first radio appearance.

I am going on the radio to promote the Children's Summer Reading program. I don't really see the point as this will be right after the morning news, and everyone I know turns to another station, but my boss said I had to go on the air (which is not something they mentioned in my job description). So I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I can only imagine how aweful I will feel tomorrow.

At least it will be early tomorrow, so that I can get it over with first thing. I have a statement all typed out that I am going to read, I know this will make for boring radio but I have never been on the radio and I am viewing it as an entirely new public platform with which to make an ass of myself. Sounding kind of boring is a whole lot better than the alternatives I can think of.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Well Kingdom of the Dead got its first rejection this week, I went through and did an edit and sent it off to another publisher. I had a little bit of a problem finding someone to send it to. I have a strange problem that I never read about in any of the writing books.

We own a small press.

Why is this a problem? We didn't start Pill Hill Press to publisher our own novels, and we don't want to. But having my novels published by another small press makes almost no sense as far as money is concerned. I would get 25% royalties, at best, from another publisher if we published it I would make 100%

I have a list of about 8 different publishers for each novel, all of which pay adavances. But when I make through the list I am going to have problems finding someone else to send my novels to. Like I said, it is a strange problem.

Oh well, nothing to worry about yet. And since Duotrope's says that most of the publishers on my list take over 100 days to respond to a submission, I should have two years, or so to figure it out.

I may have to switch gears on writing for the next couple of weeks. I have to go on the radio to promote the library's Summer Reading Program on Wednesday. I have about ten minutes of air time to fill up, and I am super nervous. Tonight I have been writing my presentation, and I think it is only about 5 minutes long, so I will have to write some more on that. Friday I have to visit another elementary school and I need to write a presentation for that.

I also have to write a presentation on how to find a job online by June 2nd, we have computer education classes at the library and this is the topic I got. And then I have to write a 15 minute speach on the history of the library. It is the town's 125th birthday and the city counsel has decided to go all out. I think they are just trying to get an econmic boost, but it means I have to tell people about the library on Heritage and History day.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

I am feeling better already after only one day of antibiotics. It is just amazing how a much a sinus infection can effect the way you feel. For the first time in a couple of weeks I actually feel like writing!

In a side note my humorous fantasy story, Henery the Hero, has been accepted for publication in Golden Visions ezine. I'm off to write or maybe play the xbox for a few minutes and then write. Procrastination is a friend of mine...

So I went to the doctor today. I have sinus infection, which is the reason for my fatigue and stuffy nose. There is a strong possibility that I have high blood pressure and the doctor thinks that I have discoid lupus.

When I heard lupus I kind freaked out but apparently the kind I have isn't so bad. While still an incurable disease, this kind of lupus is mostly just a reoccurring skin rash, and I am allergic to the sun. It is also causing an early onset of arthritis which is why my knees have been hurting so much lately. So my general feeling of poopyness and lack of motivation when it comes to writing finally have a cause.

But on the good side with my allergy to the sun finally developing I am hoping my other vampric abilities will soon manifest themselves. Oh yes, the league of vampire librarians will soon rule the world! Our secret plans are bearing fruit. Then the world will know true fear as we organize the entire world by last name and title, hahahahaha...or um...forget that last part. That must be the fever talking.

No. Really, the national library conference is just a place where we go to network and learn the latest in library technology. There is no secret room for dark rituals, or covenants with shadowy evil beings of immense power. The dewy decimal system is just a way to organize books, it isn’t a form of ritual worship and magic that brings unimaginable power to the library staff. And of course it would be silly to think that we take the souls of patrons that don’t return their books, why would we want those silly old things?

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